Dear Friends,

Welcome to the second decade of Parlance Chamber Concerts! Our eleventh season will bring thirty-one outstanding artists to our community in eight electrifying events.

On September 24, our gala opener will showcase nine dazzling artists in scintillating dances and soulful romances by Beethoven, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Falla, and others. The afternoon will climax with their collaboration in Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for strings, the 16-year-old composer’s miraculous melding of youthful exuberance and sovereign musical command.

On October 29, pianist Peter Serkin will make his long-awaited Parlance debut. Hailed worldwide as an artist of passion and integrity, Serkin is one of the most thoughtful and individualistic musicians appearing before the public today. His program will feature sublime works by Mozart and Bach, culminating in the pinnacle of Bach’s keyboard art, The Goldberg Variations.

On November 19, the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will offer a varied program of classical favorites, tracing a broad dramatic arc and emotional journey. For three decades, the LAGQ has set the standard for expression and virtuosity among guitar ensembles. Their acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past while their interpretations from the contemporary realm continually break new ground.

December 17’s concert will highlight the pianistic partnership of Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung. Their musical marriage has been described as one “of wondrous colors and dextrous aplomb, subtly balanced to make a musical performance sound as one.” Their virtuosity, passion, and artistic chemistry will be on display in glittering duets by Mozart, Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, and Rachmaninoff.

On February 17, Saturday at 8 PM, the highly acclaimed Chiara String Quartet will recreate the candlelit ambience of the 1787 premiere of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, his timeless masterpiece of spiritual music. At 7:00 PM, I will introduce the work and its history in a half-hour multimedia preview.

Our March 11 event will spotlight two of today’s fastest-rising stars, violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Orion Weiss. Their deeply communicative performances go far beyond technical mastery and have won them worldwide acclaim. Their far-flung musical journey will range from the 18th to the 21st centuries, including music by Mozart, Beethoven, Kreisler, and a newly composed work by the renowned American composer Frederic Rzewski.

On April 8, it will be a thrill to introduce the sizzling Danish String Quartet to our community. The Danes’s rare combination of rock star charisma, ensemble perfection, and consummate artistry have made them one of the most in-demand quartets of our time. Their All-Beethoven concert will feature three masterpieces from his early, middle and late periods.

On May 6, the stellar Neubauer-McDermott Family will bring our eleventh season to an exhilarating conclusion. Violist Paul Neubauer (of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society), violinist Kerry McDermott (of the New York Philharmonic), and their children, violinists Oliver and Clara Neubauer, will be joined by Kerry’s sister, CMS pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, in music of Bach, Dvořák, Ravel, and Schumann.

The concert will include the World Premiere of Gilad Cohen’s* “Moments of a Moonrise” for Three Violins, Viola, and Piano, commissioned by PCC especially for this event. Inspired by the familial theme, Cohen’s work will focus on children’s songs from Israel, America, and Spain.

Michael Parloff

*Gilad Cohen is a Ridgewood resident and a professor at Ramapo College. A Princeton Ph.D., he the winner of the 2016 Barlow Prize and the 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Award for Composers.

Programs and artists are subject to change.

Parlance Program Notes

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LOCATION

At West Side Presbyterian Church
6 South Monroe Street
Ridgewood, NJ 07450
For map and directions, click here.
 

CONCERT AMENITIES